Lion on a Cloud
by gunned
Summary: CHAPTER FOUR NOW UP. [LeonCloud] Two exheroes discover what it is like to be plagued with unsubtle desires, and can do nothing but act upon them. Dark love.
1. Almost Heroic Happenstance

**The Movement of Unsubtle Desires  
**Fandom: Kingdom Hearts  
Author: Kiba  
Rating: PG (for the moment)  
Pairing: Leon/Cloud  
Chapter: 1/?  
Warnings: A bit of angst. Not much else, yet.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, any of the characters, anything Disney, or much else, except the crazy crap I make them do. :)

_Chapter One: Almost Heroic Happenstance_

He came to the town looking damaged.

He came with his sad blue eyes and his messy blonde hair and that look of good will defeated on his face (one which was still too boyish to know the things it did). He was short and ill-dressed, a lengthy red cape around his neck that was tattered at the ends, a golden claw as a weapon on his left hand, and a broad sword in the other, so large it was a wonder he was able to wield it on his own.

He was a man who had known death and forever at the fresh age of twenty-something, when he had barely begun to live, and already his future had been ripped from his very arms. He had been tangled up in mass destruction and had saved his home, suffered the weight on his spine of being "the chosen one." He had had plenty of support but it was never strong enough to keep away the silver-haired and black-winged nightmares that still came to him every night. Even so, he had never forgotten his smile, for those who had truly needed it, as Mona Lisa as it was.

Everyone knew that look but they didn't say anything to him, and there was mutual understanding between he and everyone he met in this quaint place that he was far too gone. Even staying here for a while wouldn't ease the pain that had settled in long ago, nudged gently by unrequited battles and losing everything he loved. It was just another retelling of the story everyone who lived here had to look back on, really. He didn't complain much. Even if he had room to, he probably wouldn't have, still.

His name was Cloud Strife and once upon a time he was a hero.

And then there was the lion-man, whom had an equal degree of damage, that everyone had come to know (but not love, assuredly). He came to Traverse much earlier than Cloud, accompanied by a pretty girl in a pink dress named Aerith and the springy female ninja Yuffie, who seemed exclusively to hang around him, much to his dismay. They hadn't known each other before the Door had been opened, but in desperation had come together in order to find a means to bring about the closing of it.

He insisted on being called "Leon." Only Yuffie had had the pleasure of knowing why, and only because she was irritating enough to poke the words out of him. He was a very bitter man by nature, and the current state of the universe as a whole tended to make him especially prone to, as Yuffie would say, "Male PMS."

Regardless of his permanent bad mood, however, Leon was an impeccable warrior. Back home he was quite prestigious, and fought with a weapon called the "Gunblade," something very few were allowed to wield, which he continued to tote, even to Traverse. Back home he was also a lover, and several other things he cared not to disclose. Rather, he shoved the little legends he'd made of himself back into dusty black corners of his mind, shutting them away and emerging with a poor attempt at a clean slate, calling himself "Leon."

The past never stopped haunting him, unfortunately. He found that it was very hard to lock away entirely. There was still the vertical scar running across his face, still the Griever hanging around his neck, and now, small angelic wings sewn to the back of his jacket, a memoir of love lost.

His name was Squall Leonhart and once upon a time he was a hero.

--

It was always night in the town of Traverse, but you could tell when it was supposed to _really_ be night because the air became distinctly chilled, and the glow of the street lamps on the corners seemed to become a little bit more depressing than they already were. But Yuffie, the restless and energetic ninja that she was, had insisted that she and Leon venture out into the night-night of Traverse and have a little something at the cafe down in the town square.

And it was about this same time, as Leon was grudgingly being coaxed to moving out his establishment in the Third District, that a particular individual by the name of Cloud was checking into one of the rooms in the hotel in the Second one. As he settled into it he discovered it was on the first floor, directly beneath the series of balconies from the second one, and the back door opened up to a quaint little view of what he could only assume to be... a very large sewer.

Finding no comfort in this scenery in the least, he retreated back into the room and removed the golden claw (it got him really weird looks before, and this place didn't seem too dangerous), tucking it safely away in the bottom drawer of the dresser there, and settled his broad sword against one of the walls. The lengthy red scarf still snaked about his neck, however; he couldn't remove that, at least.

Frowning at the fact he had no clothes to change into, he decided he would visit one of the shops he had seen in passing on the way to here, because the sleeveless sweater he wore, regardless of its sentimental value, did not exactly fit into Traverse Town so well. Neither did the large boots and the baggy pants covered in buckles. The last thing he wanted to do was draw extra attention to himself.

It was, unfortunately, a bit too late to go get clothes right now, and he wanted to spend some time just settling into the town. And he could really go for a drink of some sort; he hadn't had one in a long while. He thought of the small cafe he passed after entering the town, and idly contemplated going there...

Leon looked especially irritated as he settled down into one of the wooden chairs in the cafe finally, watching as Yuffie plopped down on the one opposite of him and bounced in place a bit, what short black hair she had falling into her eyes a moment. She placed her elbows on the table rudely and cradled her chin with her palms then, smiling brightly across at him, and inquired quite perkily, "Wasn't this idea of mine great? Now we can chat with all the people again!" Leon did not look amused.

"I bet they miss us coming here," she continued, not even giving him a chance to respond, "Do you remember when we used to come here every day and we both had our favourite drinks, and all the ladies tried to get in your pants? Though I don't have any idea as to why they would want to do that, I mean, look at those pants, they are so hard to get in to, and I don't mean just because---" Her rambling seemed to never cease.

To this, Leon narrowed his eyes and glanced off to the side, elsewhere. He indeed gave her an answer, but it was probably not what she would want to hear, though she would be a fool if she were expecting anything else. "---I only came here to get a drink. I'm not talking to anyone."

Yuffie rolled her eyes, and stuck out her tongue at the same time toward him. "You're such a tight-ass."

Before Leon could come back with an insult of some kind, a busty woman who was employed there as a waitress had come to their table with a smile on her face, a pad of paper in her hand, and a pencil in the other. "What would you two like this evening? We're going to close in an hour or so, but feel free to take your time and relax..."

Slowly Leon slid his eyes over to the voluptuous woman, examining the red and revealing dress, how it clung quite nicely to her curves and how it showed off quite a bit of chest, but found himself not at all impressed. She seemed like another cookie-cutter image of most of the pretty women he had seen in his short day.

His voice was bland as he stated simply to her, "Beer." He honestly wasn't too fond of the elaborate mixes of drinks; he wanted something simple and bitter but definitely alcoholic.

"And you, little miss?"

"I'm definitely NOT little," Yuffie made sure to add before saying anything else, "Buuut, I'll have a fruit smoothie!" She looked a little miffed toward the woman, but surprisingly refrained from commentary. Leon was thankful.

"All right then; if there's anything else you would like, just give me a holler. I'm happy to be of service to you." The woman winked, and added playfully, "Especially you, big boy," as she gave the said "big boy" a gentle prod in the shoulder with the end of her pencil. Leon stared blankly, unresponsive to the flirtatious gesture.

Looking somewhat annoyed that her advances were not well received, the waitress left them wordlessly, and made sure to remember put something not-so-pleasant in the man's drink.

Mr. Strife was heading down the steps and into the square now, with his boots tapping lightly against the cobble stone, loud against the silence that the night-night of Traverse had brought, and the red tattered cape billowing behind him. Soon, however, the sound of people chattering in the cafe not too far off had hit his ears, easy to pick out, and he found what he was looking for.

Upon reaching the entrance to the open cafe, he paused there and placed a gloved hand against one of the beams holding up the roof overhead of them, his cape settling against his back with a gentle whisper. Blinking confusedly for a few moments, he wondered if he should go in and pick a table or wait to be seated.

Quickly, as to not stand there too long and look stupid and obviously new to the town, he decided upon the former, and began to move again, in search of a table to claim as his own. The cafe was surprisingly busy for the hour it was, but from his he concluded they must serve alcohol. Who would be sitting here drinking soda or coffee or anything else, he had to wonder.

Yuffie was now ironically suckling loudly at her smoothie through a thick, colourful straw, but Leon had yet to touch his beer because he was suspicious of the strange smell it emitted. When it had been served and she saw him allowing it to sit there, she questioned him with one of her childish "Why?"s, and then, "How can beer smell any more funny than it already does?" but did not really care enough to look deeper into it. They would be spending Leon's munny here anyway.

Cloud weaved silently in and out of the tables, looking for a vacant one. As he did such, his cape whipped this way and that, occasionally in the way and faces of the people he passed.

As fate would have it, one shred of the heavy red fabric flickered into Yuffie's face as he passed the particular table, causing her to abruptly screech, jump and fling out her arms in whichever direction, in rapid succession, startled. This resulted in the glass containing her smoothie to go flying... in Leon's direction.

The blond man tensed at the sound of the girl's scream, and instantly whirled around with wide eyes to see what the matter was. Thankfully, years of training had given him quick reflexes, and before the drink could splatter all over the ground and/or Leon, he had quickly reached out and snatched it with one of his hands, just in time.

There was a long, awkward pause. The cafe was silent, watching the little scene. Their attention had been caught by Yuffie's banshee wailing, which had thankfully subsided for the moment, replaced with an unsure, blank stare of surprise. Cloud breathed a sigh of relief eventually, eyes rolling skyward in a thankful expression at the same time. After that he smiled sheepishly to Yuffie, and offered her a quiet apology, setting her glass back down in front of her, hopefully safely.

And when he turned his head in the direction to apologize to the other sitting across from the girl, he locked eyes with a ruffling, ferocious lion.

Leon's eyes were narrowed to angry slits, their intense blue shrouded by his brunette bangs; if you looked close enough you could almost see hackles, and how they were rising up, hagridden. His arms were crossed over his chest securely and he felt the muscles in his body beginning to slowly tense, one by one, the longer this yellow-headed fool stared him down.

"You're lucky you were able to save that, or I would have had to---"

"Squall, he didn't mean it!" Yuffie butted in before he could go on any further, her thin brows furrowed with annoyance, bottom lip sticking out in a juvenile manner, as if a spoiled child. "He even apologized!"

Cloud would have gladly responded to the threat, had it been finished, as it was an insult to his pride. Males, no matter who they were, or how kind they were, were guaranteed to have an endless amount of pride. However, the pleading of women had always seemed to lull his version of a not-so-ferocious beast, and he settled for simply glaring at Leon.

The almost spilling of the drink, this trickle of defense, and Yuffie's chiding was enough to convince Leon that going out tonight was not that great of an idea after all. He had not even wanted to be here in the first place and now was entirely disgusted that he had allowed himself to be seduced into doing this. If Yuffie had not been so damned chipper and perky and any other adjective in the world to describe "stupidly happy," he would have never been in this situation, and he would have never had to actually talk to these idiots, and he could have been locked up in his private hole brooding.

"The name is _Leon_," he hissed.

Yuffie looked offended. She immediately slammed her hands down on the table, and stood up from her chair, glaring daggers across at the lion-man. "Well, excuuuse me, Mr. I'm So Big and Tough and Cool Because I'm Too Angsty To Actually Try to Be Nice to Anyone and Care about Anyone Else But Myself, Even If They Just Saved a Drink From Spilling ALL OVER Me!---oh, sorry, I mean, Leon---but just because you---"

"This is stupid. I'm leaving."

Abruptly, Leon moved from his own chair and quickly reached into his pocket to fish out a few pieces of munny. After tossing them down on the table for that stupid whore who had tried to poison his drink, he turned his back to them, pushed past Cloud, and left the cafe silently, his face contorted into something vulgar. Yuffie was left shaking her fist and sailing insults like no body's business.

Cloud was confused and nervous. Everyone was still staring at him. Moments like these, he felt that people's eyes could burn a hole into him, right down to the very core of his soul.

But suddenly, they were nothing compared to the gaze of an angry lion.

TO BE CONTINUED


	2. Wrestling With Lions

The Movement of Unsubtle Desires  
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts  
Author: Kiba  
Rating: PG-13 (for the moment)  
Pairing: Leon/Cloud  
Chapter: 2/?  
Warnings: Fighting. Lots of it.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, any of the characters, anything Disney, or much else, except the crazy crap I make them do. :)

Chapter Two: Wrestling with Lions

The eyes really bugged him.

Why, he didn't know, but they did. They were blue, and intense. Grudgingly, he admitted they were beautiful, but also very frightening. They were the sort of bright like his---but a true blue, as opposed to his, which were closer to aquamarine.

He found that the look of those fierce blue eyes kept with him that whole night; and not only that, but also the sharp contours of the man's face, and the way the chocolate-brown hair hung down to his strong jaw-line, just so. And the scar. It ran across his face, starting below his left eye, and crawling up, ending above his right one. He looked at him for maybe ten seconds and then he was gone, but the image of his face seemed to be imprinted into his mind.

God, he hated him. Whoever he was---his name was something weird, and began or ended with an L, he couldn't remember---he hated him. He was rude, inconsiderate, and he bet that short girl with him was his girlfriend or something, and he probably beat the shit out of her when she got back to their place, for acting up like she did, even if he was really the stupid and rude one and ugh. Just ugh.

Cloud discovered his fingernails were now embedded with soap. The dull roar of the water hitting the shower floor was suddenly there also, and he sighed in half relief, half frustration, loosening his grip on the small white bar, letting the soap drop down to the floor, carelessly. He did his best to pick out the little white flakes, and thought to himself, Ah, at least they will be especially clean now, in a poor attempt at optimism.

Turning off the water, he stepped out of the shower, snatching a towel off one of the racks near by, and dried himself off in silence. His mind was quite the mess, though, busy half trying to wonder what it was about those eyes that seemed to irk him so much, half trying to get their image out of his head.

He remembered he had no clean clothes and sighed, reluctantly retiring to bed naked.

--

In the morning, Leon slammed his fist hard against the wall. It was a spot that was right next to the door, and he had done it after stepping inside. Maybe there was a dent. If there was, he either didn't notice or didn't care. And apparently, he had come in too quietly, and having Yuffie not acknowledge his presence was something that he just would not have.

She had come home soon after the little squabble. He spent the night aimlessly wandering, into the morning hours, and then until the street lights didn't seem so abysmal anymore. His mood had not changed. He didn't expect it to.

Aerith, the flower girl in the pink dress, was also there. All of them had ended up settling down in this little shack of a house in the Third District after having the encounter with the Keyblade boy. There wasn't much space; Leon slept on the floor and the two girls shared the single bed. It wasn't the best but it was cheap and livable.

At the sound of fist connecting to thin boarding, calmly she lifted her head from staring down at the plate of breakfast food in front of her, but blinked with pleasant ignorance. Yuffie, whom was eating with her at the small table in the corner, dropped her fork where it was with a loud clang and immediately narrowed her eyes, standing up from her chair as quickly as she had done last night. Her fists balled, and it was apparent she was ready to spit insults in the direction of the male.

"Where were you?!"

He let his fist slide from the spot on the wall, and dangle stupidly at his side, though it was still clenched into a fist. "Why does it matter." Leon had a very strange habit of stating questions as if they were answers, especially when he was in a bad mood. This seemed to be always. Yuffie's face contorted with annoyance, as she hated this quirk about him, and huffed in his direction.

Aerith blinked again, and then frowned, tilting her head with the utmost sincere concern. She chimed in quickly, "I was worried about you." A pause. "Yuffie told me you two got into a little bit of a fight and you stormed off, and she hadn't seen you since."

"We did not," Leon said, the intonation of his voice suddenly changing dramatically, as it was custom to never speak rudely to girls as proper and pure as Aerith, should they suffer the silent humiliation of being not-a-gentlemen that no one really even paid attention to these days. "We were at the cafe, and some stupid guy almost spilled her drink on me."

"And he apologized," Yuffie snarled. "Apologized! But you were still angry with him! He didn't mean to do that, and you know it!"

The lion man shut his eyes, obviously irritated, and sighed through his nostrils. "You know what, just forget it. Just forget it ever happened. This is even more stupid."

"No!" Yuffie was quick to respond, and now her own fists were beginning to slowly ball up at her sides. "You can't run away every time you're wrong, stupid! You wanted to change yourself, remember? You wanted to be stronger! And now, you're being really stupid and weak! I mean, who walks out of a place just because some guy almost spilled a drink on them!"

"Yuffie, please..." Aerith winced at just about every word she said. She did this, because she knew how much it hurt to be told the truth so bluntly.

All Leon could do was stare blankly. Yuffie's words, after a moment of thought, were, in fact, undeniably... true?

He wanted to vomit, suddenly. A sickening feeling balled in his stomach and he winced inwardly. It was especially humiliating because the things he was supposed to know where being spouted from the mouth of some stupid, short, teenaged ninja girl who half the same, from what he observed, could not distinguish her backside from a hole in the ground. And it was all because of some stupid little blond guy and his stupid big cape thing. God, he hated him. Whoever he was, he hated him.

This was pathetic; he was pathetic. His brows furrowed considerably, and a gloved hand rose to place two of its fingers against the side of his forehead, rubbing at it idly. He was silent.

Yuffie, unfortunately, took this as a sign that he was ignoring her words, in order to anger her more than he had already done. Hmphing quite loudly, she promptly approached him, stomping her booted feet as children do, and lifted her hand to give him a swift slap across the face, beginning with the words, "You listen to me, SQUALL---"

He caught her wrist quickly, in an unexpected, swift movement. It never had the chance to contact with his face. His eyes, suddenly, were quite wide, in a strange and unsettling peer. The expression was enough to make the female ninja freeze in place and return the same look, albeit a bit more confused.

After a stare down for a few seconds, Aerith quietly hesitantly scolded the two, her sweet voice slicing through the awkward silence no smoother than a knife through butter. "Please, don't fight... it's not good, especially amongst people in the same house..."

Yuffie glared at the man spitefully, and attempted to tug her wrist from Leon's grasp after that. He loosened it immediately in response, and then turned, to face the door. The same hand lifted, and gently pressed against its wooden surface.

"My name...is Leon." It was a simple statement.

After that, he left quickly and silently, shoving his gloved hands in his pockets, and immediately turned on his heel to head into the Second District. His head tilted in an almost shameful manner down toward the cobblestone streets as he walked, eyes focused on his leather boots in particular.

Slowly, the ninja's expression softened out into bewilderment, and found she was too stunned at his actions to follow after him. She blinked, then looked back to Aerith. Neither of them knew what to make of the poor man.

--

Grudgingly Cloud put on the old clothes. He figured it wouldn't be so bad, as he was going to buy new ones immediately. The store he intended to pay a visit to was directly across from his hotel.

As he crossed the walkway toward the store, coming around the corner was none other than the blue-eyed man who had gotten angry at him in the cafe last night. Cloud, however, failed to notice him, and had slipped into the store seconds before Leon glanced up in his direction.

The store was pleasant to be in. The walls weren't bare, but neither too cluttered. Upon the racks throughout the store were mostly older fashions, but they were nice, and even a bit elaborate. The shopkeeper was a well-aged Asian looking woman, dressed in a manner to compliment her culture, with squinted eyes but a large nose. She was considerably short, and came up to Cloud's chest.

She was also considerably imposing. The moment he had set foot inside she squealed with delight, and began talking a mile a minute, and Cloud was too kind to do anything but smile and nod. He ended up walking out of the place well dressed, with his old clothes folded neatly by small hands and placed into a shopping bag; though his red scarf did not leave his shoulders. The elderly woman had protested it was unbecoming on him but he insisted.

His new clothes weren't dramatically different from what he used to wear but they were good enough. On his chest, a black and sleeveless zip up sweater, black jeans, boots, and gloves. There were also a few strategically placed buckles and belts, and he felt rather "stylin'" to be honest.

Now that he had gotten new clothing he wasn't sure what else to do. He had already visited the accessory shop the previous day, and was carrying all the potions and the like he could handle. He also felt quite healthy, and there was nothing in this town to fight. The thought of that made him somewhat twitchy all of the sudden, and he thought of the man he "met" yesterday, again.

Maybe he should just go back to the hotel. There was no way he was going to show his face at that cafe again---he would be quite possibly the laughing stock of the square now.

Yes. Yes, that sounded like the safest thing to do. He could avoid anymore uncomfortable encounters that way, too.

So Cloud returned to the hotel, quickly and silently. Upon entering, he stuffed his old clothes away in the bottom door beside the golden claw, and found himself not sure what to do now. He sighed softly, settling down onto the bed, and shut his eyes. He found he was not particularly tired, but---hey, maybe he should go investigate that mini-bar now...

As he began to shift off of the bed minutes after, he swore he heard the strangest sound coming from outside, in the alleyway. It sounded like, dare he say it, an angry lion. He froze in place, tilting his head to the air, and waited to hear it again.

There it was again.

As Cloud was a curious creature by nature, his first reaction was to go poke his head outside and see what was up. As he was moving to the door, however, he froze in place, shuddering at the sound of the "roar" as it sounded a third time. He opted to just peek outside the window of his door...

But there was nothing to be seen. So immediately, thoughtlessly (excuse him, for he was blond, after all), he slipped over to the wall where his Buster Sword was settled, and snatched it up with a disturbing ease, and then headed out. The roar sounded again and he found he was wincing at it. But where, exactly, was this unearthly noise coming from? The alleyway was somewhat closed off, and there was no way to go, really, save for into the big sewer thing there---that was it. The sewer.

The moment his feet hit the water he knew he was an idiot. And yet, he walked through it calmly, eyes fixated upon the dark and now that he thought about it, rather ominous blackness that was the entrance to what he assumed to be a really, really big sewer. Knowing his luck it would be some kind of trap Hades had set in order to get even with him for making off like he did...

The thought crossed his mind and he stopped directly in front of the "entrance," shivering. He was going to get himself killed one of these days, most definitely. And yet, wasn't that his birth right? He was, after all, a sad excuse for a hero. His blond brows furrowed over his bright cerulean eyes, and he breathed a huff of air, preparing himself. It certainly wasn't out of relief.

And then he slipped into the abyss, after listening to two or three more roars.

--

"ARGH." _Woosh._ "RrrrAGH." _Woosh, woosh. _

The pebbles beneath his boots rubbed quietly together, and the gentle ripples of the water lapped against the edges of the cave walls, serene and undisturbed by the one-sided violence occurring just feet away from it. The candles on the large rocks were slowly melting down, one by one, but he found he enjoyed training in the dark more than in any other way.

_Woosh._ "Rrrr..." _Woosh, woosh. _

His muscles were tense. This was the only way, he discovered, that he could loosen them. The swaying of his Gunblade, the quick curves and fast juts. In a way it was erotic; the thrusting and pulling and quick movements and hard breathing. It was the only means of outlet for his frustration, these days. It had been so very long since he had been able to fight something worthy of him---definitely not that Keyblade kid---and he was on edge and anxious.

"Rrra---"

"It's you!" He hadn't meant to say it so loud, or even at all, but it had slipped. The moment his voice hit the air his eyes were wide and he was ashamed and red, and quickly sunk back a bit, ducking his head as if that would shelter him from his, what he surely assumed to be, impending doom.

There was only one candle lit now.

Leon whipped around quickly, eyes wide and furious. The edge of his Gunblade settled to rest against the pebbles on the ground, his gloved hand tensing around its hilt. The voice, he didn't recognize, but he saw the outline of spiky hair silhouetting against the small amount of light from outside the entrance, and immediately assumed it to be a particularly irritating child he had met a few weeks ago...

"Sora, what are you doing here."

Before Cloud could even say anything else, his own eyes widened and he hastily scrambled to shore (he had still been standing in the almost-knee deep water), letting the Buster drag from the water with him, tugged by his hand, and when his boots contacted with the pebbles, his free fist balled and he glared. Leon's gaze flickering with reflection of the only candle burning in the watery cave was unnerving, but he pressed on.

His first assumption was: this man was definitely in league with Hades. How else would he know the name of the Keyblader? One could never be too cautious, in times like these.

"How do you know Sora?!" the blond yelled, and his boyish voice bounced off the walls like a persistent reminder---_How do you know Sora, do you know Sora, you know Sora, know Sora, Sora... _

_An employee of Maleficent? _Leon squinted at him. How else would he know the name of the Keyblader? Actually, there were probably hundreds of ways he could have discovered Sora's name, but since Leon was a suspicious creature by default it was what popped into his head first. And it would be the only reasoning he would listen to now, with his blood still pumping hard from training so feverishly, his face hot and red and slightly dripping with sweat and the humidity collected in the cave.

_...It's you_. He definitely recognized this guy from before now that he came closer, spoke more---how could he forget the unsettling sound of that boyish voice?---and suddenly he remembered the anguish his stupid little stunt had brought him. The unsettled rage behind his blue eyes flared up and without warning he lashed out at him with a fury only lions possess, darting with his Gunblade, in Cloud's direction.

The sound of the sudden movement was all Cloud had to go on. It was considerably hard to see---but thankfully he put two and two together quickly enough to figure out the sudden rush of wind was not natural. His eyes were still wide, and somehow, became almost saucer-like now, as he leapt out of the way just in time, though suffered a slight knick to his bare shoulder. "_Argh!_" he hissed, and immediately whipped his Buster Sword up and slung it over his shoulder.

_Definitely sent by Hades._

_Definitely sent by Maleficent._

Leon charged again, blindly. Cloud, this time, stood ready for it. When he lunged, he moved to the side, and delivered a quick swipe in the opposite direction, in attempt to get a good hit to the lion's rib cage. It was hard to see what was going on, but thankfully he felt impact.

It contacted, but Leon moved upon the instant he felt it begin to touch him, and suffered only having the wind temporarily knocked out of him. As he moved so swiftly, the Griever about his neck flung on its chain, circling around his neck once, but landing back and settling in place on his chest, as if it were meant to be there.

Breathing hard in time with one another, their gazes locked in the darkness. Leon's were considerably narrower, more ferocious, ignited with the single candle flame which burned strongly as their freshly birthed rivalry---_the eyes of one of Hades' minions_, Cloud immediately identified---that must have been the reason why they haunted him so. He mustn't look at them.

Suddenly they both moved forward, and the sound of the wind was all either had to go on. The Buster Sword and Gunblade contacted, and Leon was impressed but not surprised how heavy it felt against his own weapon. Still, his eyes aflame with a thirst needing to be quenched, he abruptly delivered a quick thrust forward and Cloud moved back.

Cloud would not give up. He bolted toward him this time, and Leon received the blow quite hard. His boots slid across the slippery pebbles, but before they touched any part of the pool lapping behind them, he regained composure and moved out of the way.

The short blonde spun quickly on his heels to face and keep his eye on Leon, but made sure not to look into his burning eyes. Rather, he stared at the lion chain about his neck, as that glinted as well but not as frighteningly, and was surprised how accurate his associations with this man were.

There was, however, no time to sit and ponder useless imagery. Leon was walking to the side, and all Cloud could do was walk with him, to keep his back faced away from him, and instead of they circling together, he felt more as if Leon was the one circling _him_---like a hungry lion would his prey. It made him ungodly nervous, but this continued until they made several rounds.

They blindly charged again; brutal, unrelenting battle ensued. Both of their eyes were wide with the adrenaline rushing in their veins, and Cloud was beginning to break a sweat. And it truly felt like sex---raw and hard emotion flung against the walls freely, in their yells and their boots on the moist pebbles, as well as the noise of the winds rushing through the cave, accented by the swift movements of their own weapon.

Leon's desperate and uneasy thirst was quenched---or became direr, he could not tell. But somewhere along the line Cloud's back faced the water and with a swift and miscalculated thrust, the smaller of the two felt his chest hit hard by the broad side of Leon's Gunblade, and he was sent sprawling backward into the water, quite ungracefully.

The Buster Sword slipped from his grasp before he contacted with the water and was too heavy to be knocked back like that---but Cloud's body was indeed light enough for it to occur, and he hadn't time to level his weight with his sword's as he usually did, and thus the fault. He splashed hard down into the water, finding this part of it much, much deeper than he had expected.

Panic raced through his mind and he involuntarily gave a frightened yell, his arms flailing wildly. Leon's eyes narrowed but his expression was blank as he watched this occur, and wondered why Maleficent would send someone so stupid and clumsy to go after the Keyblade. He had to admit---he felt as if this blond fool had the upper hand for quite some time, but one slip up and he was done.

Cloud came scrambling back to shore, his hands clawing desperately at the somewhat solid ground, his hair no longer spiked by a heap of misshapen flaxen, hanging in his eyes and down his neck. He panted hard, and coughed up a bit of water, pressing his cheek to the ground a moment, his eyes wide.

Until he felt the hard, sculpted rubber of a boot lowering down onto his head. He choked on air at that, but froze immediately after.

"What...do you want with Sora."

TO BE CONTINUED


	3. Speak of the Devil

**The Movement of Unsubtle Desires**  
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts  
Author: Kiba  
Rating: PG-13 (for the moment)  
Pairing: Leon/Cloud  
Chapter: 3/?  
Warnings: None really.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, any of the characters, anything Disney, or much else, except the crazy crap I make them do. :)

Chapter Three: Speak of the Devil

I don't have to tell you _anything_. Hades probably would have never kept up his half of the deal anyway." His voice was cracking and weak; choking on water does that to you.

"Who the fuck is Hades?" Leon raised a brow slightly, tilting his head down into the darkness, though he could hardly see Cloud's face. His boot shifted a bit over his head, and perhaps relented, if only slightly.

Cloud's brows furrowed with annoyance. The last thing he wanted to do now was play mind games. Clearing his throat, he sounded somewhat confused. "...Didn't he set up this trap to get me to come back to him...?"

Leon was silent for a few moments in contemplation. This wasn't making any sense at all. He decided, for once, to give him the benefit of the doubt, and lifted his boot from his head, settling it down on the ground. Before Cloud could do anything else, however, he pressed:

"Tell me how you know who Sora is."

Slowly, very slowly, Cloud shifted up and pulled the rest of him from the water, and moved into a sitting position. He glared up at Leon, whom had taken a few steps back and crossed his arms over his chest. With the movement, he saw the flash of blue and shuddered immediately, looking away, and then shut his own eyes.

"I competed against him in the Coliseum. Hades was paying me to win against him..." He neglected to inform him of the "and kill him" part. It wasn't necessary, as he didn't intend to anyway.

Leon raised a brow. "Coliseum?"

"Yeah, it's not far from Traverse. Warriors from all over go there to fight." Cloud's expression had softened. He found it ironic he was having casual conversation with the man who had just attempted to possibly kill him, and was partially humiliated that this strange man was probably not who he thought he was.

"...If you've never heard of that before, I guess it's safe to say you're not out to get me," he added quietly, almost sheepishly.

Leon paused again, and looked away from Cloud, as he thought a moment. He knew now he was probably wrong in his assumption that this stupid blond boy wanted to kill Sora, or cause any sort of harm to him whatsoever---and he could bet he wouldn't be able to anyway. After all, he was here. If he had beaten Sora, he probably would have continued to fight. But he was here, in Leon's makeshift "den", so to speak, sopping wet and sitting at his feet. This was not the ideal position for someone who was more powerful than Sora.

...But he was impressive.

"Leon."

The blond blinked, and tilted his head up. Leon? What? Oh, oh---his name. That must be his name. He was tempted to smile girlishly and tell him his own, but stopped that expression from appearing on his face immediately. What possessed him to do that, he couldn't fathom. Yuck.

"...I'm Cloud. Cloud Strife." And his face was forced blank.

Leon's eyes slightly widened at the name. He had never heard of someone being called that before, and simply because of the irony of it all, he was surprised. Squall. Cloud. Squall. Cloud...

Soon enough his expression remolded into its usual blank state, however, and he turned away from him, slinging his Gunblade over his shoulder.

"I like your style, _Strife_. But you need to work on watching where you're going..." He paused a moment for thought, then continued. "This is where I usually train. If you like, you can use it as well." As he spoke the sound of his boots clicking against the rocks was heard, and his voice became distant, echoing gently as it resounded against the high walls.

"...Thanks?" Cloud couldn't see where the other was going, and squinted into the darkness. He was gone.

_God, were his eyes beautiful._

--

Settling back in to the house in the Third District was awkward for Leon, especially after the dramatic exit he had made earlier. Aerith smiled sadly but pleasantly to him when he came in; looking up from a book she had recovered from one of the old shelves they had found already in the house before taking it as their own. Yuffie refused to speak with him, which he was honestly thankful for.

Cloud found it just as hard entering the door of his hotel room. Obviously it hadn't been a far walk, and upon stepping out of the waterway, he had realized he was entirely soaked and thus needed more clothes. Tomorrow, he supposed.

Sighing dejectedly, he slipped in and stripped himself of the soaking garments, letting them hang on various places in the bathroom. He showered again, for the water in Leon's lair was probably not the cleanest thing in the world, and then settled down to retire to sleep, his muscles aching and still hot.

The night-night came, and the both of them found a hunger unsatisfied.

--

Not very long after Leon and Cloud had both left, within the recesses of lion's lair, the single candle still burned.

Its flame flickered unnaturally, against the winds rushing through the cave, and then began to steadily grow. Within seconds it was quite large, and seemed to formulate into some sort of little creature, and without warning, popped quite loudly.

"AHHHHHH!!!"

With the candle, the flame, still burning brightly...rolled down the pile of rocks it had been situated upon, and across the lesser pebbles, emitting a high pitched and terrified wail, and perhaps something along the lines of, "HOTHOTHOTHOTHOT!!!" and promptly heaved itself forward into the water, with a loud sizzle. The stick of wax calmly stopped before reaching the water's edge.

Meanwhile, the particularly large (compared to all the others around it) rock it had been situated on began to awkwardly warp in and out of itself. Quickly, it uncurled and change its colouration, becoming a distinct shade of magenta. A spade tail flickered behind it suddenly, and it lifted its head to reveal the face of a particularly grotesque imp, complete with a yellow row of sharp teeth and two small horns atop its head.

The demon stood up right, and it was apparent regardless it was small of stature, it was definitely quite chunky. "Ohhh my GODS I thought that would never END!"

It shook its little round body and leapt from its perch and onto the ground, shuddering the feeling back into its limbs. Raising a brow at only being answered by its echo, the purple-pink demon scuttled to the water, picked up the candle, and hurled it into the rippling blackness. "PANIC!"

"GYAH!" screeched its (burnt) turquoise counterpart, resurfacing from the pool with a rather large bump on its pointed head. "W-w-what?! C-c-can't you see I was trying to c-c-c-cool off?! It's h-h-_hard_ trying to be hot..."

This demon, named appropriately Panic, was considerably thinner than its magenta companion, whom was Pain. Atop his head were two large and pointed horns, and his hooked nose looked so similar to them it was hard not to consider it a third. As he slowly crawled from the water, it was apparent he also had a spade tail and the same cloved hooves as the other, albeit on skinnier legs.

Pain rolled his beady yellow eyes and then promptly took a hold of Panic's chest, tugging the greenish flesh and forcing him toward him. "Why didn't you_ DO something_?! You were supposed to get that Porcupine-Head to come back to the Coliseum with us!"

He gave a frantic screech, large eyes wide, wriggling in the other's grasp. "W-w-what are you talking about ME? ME?! I can't handle this all b-b-by myself! He sent y-y-YOU to get him too!"

"Details, details!" Pain flung the other back carelessly, and then rubbed a clawed hand down his face as he groaned with annoyance, its fleshy contours stretching until it was looking as if he were melting. When he removed it, it bounced back into place. "You could have EASILY done something...like set his hair on fire, or his stupid scarf, or his butt, or SOMETHING! Anything!"

He shuddered, and stuttered, "W-w-well YOU could have hurled yourself at him and knocked him unconscious! Y-yeah!" He attempted to glare fiercely, though considering his appearance; it was not very fierce at all.

Pain immediately returned the look, stuck out his forked tongue, and stretched his face with his hands again. _ Biiiidah._ To this, the turquoise demon screeched with fear, and hid his eyes with his hands. "D-d-d-don't DO that!"

Letting his hands fall away, but keeping his large eyes focused on the ground, he furrowed his brows a bit. "We have to s-stop messing around. W-w-we can't go back like this. If he finds out we didn't get Porcupine-Head, he'll KILL US for sure!"

Pain was silent for a few seconds...and then slowly, a toothy grin spread across his fat face. "You mean..._IF _he finds out," he slyly said, holding up a single clawed finger and pointing it in Panic's direction upon the stress of a particular word.

Pain looked up and to him, blinking. ...Soon enough, he returned the grin. "_If?_ ...If is good..."

--

_Kupo!_

_Kupo, kupo!_

"Oh my GODS, I c-c-can't believe were d-doing this..." squeaked the skinnier of the two demons, as he dragged squirming burlap bag out from the back of the Accessory shop.

Pain, whom was holding the end and not actually doing much work, promptly retorted, "Stop whining! I don't know about you, but I'd rather NOT be the next Thanksgiving delicacy on the Food Channel!" As he said that, he caught Panic's tail beneath one of his hooves, and pressed down, hard.

"YeeeOW!" Panic screeched, desperately wriggling his tail out from under him. "O-o-okay, okay! Fine! We'll do this..."

"And be QUIET. We don't want to get caught. These stupid cream puff things make enough noise as it is!"

_Kupo kupo kupo!_

Panic shuddered as they began to head down the steps, squeezing the bag a bit tighter. "Yuck, I don't think I could stand to lay eyes on those things again...they're so cute and fluffy and squishy and soft... a-a-and i-i-it's like they're _reject animal mascots from some cheesy animated movie!_"

The two imps carried the bag with the moogle inside of it down the steps and into the square, and silently slipped through the gates, to head back to the Coliseum, via some random gummi ship they managed to sneak on with surprising ease.

Upon arriving at its gates, they hesitantly slipped through them and tip-toed across the sand, as if a magenta and turquoise demon wouldn't stand out against the light brown...in broad daylight...

Before they could reach the lobby, however, an ominous cloud of smoke formed in front of them, and then became what appeared to be a very tall form. Panic gasped, and stopped in place as he gawked up at it, while Pain failed to pay attention and ended up stepping on the moogle in the bag and running into Panic. With a loud _KUPO! _They topped over, face first in the sand. "Ugggh..."

"Wellwellwell...if it isn't two of my most treasured henchmen...Pain and...Panic..."

The moment they heard the distinctive tone similar to that of a used car salesman, they froze with their eyes wide, and then winced and shuddered, upon feeling two large, extremely cold hands grasping them by the spades of their tales, and lifting them slowly up off the ground. Tightly, each of them clasped their end of the burlap bag, and stared up at the ruler of the Underworld _himself_, Hades.

"H-hi boss!"

"Yeeeah...how...how ya doin'?!"

"W-w-we were just...we were just uh..."

"Returning with Spiky, I hopefully assume?" Hades raised a thin brow, tilting his head at the two, continuing to let them dangle in the air. "Because, I mean," he chuckled sarcastically as both his eyebrows arched, "You wouldn't be returning if you didn't _have_ the little needle-noggin with you, now would you...?"

Pain and Panic stared blankly at him with wide eyes a moment, and then exchanged glances with each other, looking definitely frightened. However, a large sheepish grin spread across both their faces and slowly they looked back to Hades.

"No, no, never..." Pain began, "We...do indeed...have the needle noggin...with us!"

"A-a-a-and he's...he's right here, see...see?" Panic jarred the bag a bit. _Kupo. ...Gulp._

Hades looked down at the burlap bag with a questioning expression, with a moment's pause. Without warning, he dropped the two demons and before they could let go of the desired item as well, he snatched it with a hand that instantaneously turned into a lengthy blue flame, and it curled about it, and slowly opened it.

A frighten moogle poked its head out and peered up at Hades with its squinty eyes, the red ball on its head bouncing slightly. "..._Kupo!_"

Pain and Panic began backing up, slowly, toward the world's exit.

Hades' eyes immediately narrowed. The flame returned to the shape of a hand, and promptly grasped the moogle by its head, plucking it from the bag, and dropping it to the ground, forgetting it entirely. The small white creature began to squirm and kupo, but was helpless in his grasp. His eyes were grave, and it looked as if he were about to explode.

"Does...this..." He flipped the moogle around, and about shoved it in the two imps' faces. "...look like..._Cloud Strife_...to YOU?"

Silence. ..._Kupo, kupo. _It wriggled its arms a bit.

The two froze where they were, and grinned pathetically. "W-w-well...it is...pretty soft...like a _cloud_!" Panic stammered. "A-and...well, considering the way you're holding it, it DOES seem to have a lot of _strife_," Pain added.

At the stupidity of these words, slowly, very slowly, the dead and bluish tone of Hades' skin began to warm, become red hot, beginning from the bottom of his robe, all the way up to the flame lit upon his head. His eyes bulged.

Pain and Panic, upon seeing this frightening display, screeched in unison, "OH MY GODS!" and immediately darted in the other direction; only to be grasped by their heads by the flames that were once Hades' hands. Roughly he tugged them back and squeezed their skulls tightly.

At this they immediately began to desperately cry out. "We're SORRY!" "O-o-oh, so, so SORRY!" "HAVE MERCY!" "M-M-MERCY, PLEASE!" Desperately they wriggled about in Hades' hand-flames, and the small moogle skittered elsewhere to safety, forgotten.

Grudgingly, Hades released them from his grasp and allowed them to fall roughly upon the ground, groaning with annoyance. "I suppose this means I can't let you to do ANYTHING on your own?"

"W-w-well, it was an honest mistake," Panic hesitantly said. "It was j-just like we said! That...white...floofy thingie was...very...cloudy..."

"And strifey," added, Pain nodded sagely.

Hades emitted an exasperated sigh and turned his back to them, rubbing his forehead with a clawed hand slowly. "Memo to me, memo to me...maim you both...after this is over..."

"...Ah, m-memo taken, your most lugubriousness!" the two imps said in time with one another, albeit a tad nervously.

There was a very long, awkward pause after that. The two imps stared blankly ahead at Hades' back for a while. Eventually, Pain folded his tiny arms behind his back and began to rock back and forth on his hooves with boredom, while Panic idly whistled, letting his eyes wander.

"Hey," Pain suddenly blurted. "Maybe, just maybe, we could get Cloud through that lion-y guy."

Panic raised a brow and looked over at him, rubbing his chin. "The lion-guy?"

"Duh, I mean, he was totally into him. Didn't you see the way he looked at his _eyes? _He was practically fangirling all over the place!" Pain rolled his eyes, as if this were blatant truth.

Panic immediately made a disgusted face, cringing at the very thought of...that, and coiled. "Eeeewww! That's GROSS! And besides, they were FIGHTING. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't be particularly fond of some guy who beat the shi---"

Hades was slowly looking over his shoulder now, a brow raised, as if he were suddenly somewhat interested in what the imps had to say... The greenish imp saw this and gulped loudly, grinning widely as he met eyes with Hades. The god honestly hadn't been paying attention to the almost insult, but was more interested in discovering who exactly this "lion-guy" was, and how he could use him to get Cloud...

"I-I-I mean...I'd be TOTALLY in love with some guy who slaps me around like I'm his little---"

"_TMI_. T. M. I. YOU'RE the one being gross now!" Pain hissed.

"...Ahh," Hades said suddenly, whipping around to face them. They leapt back in surprise, but he had a fox-smile on his face, and his sinister eyes narrowed as he looked at them too adoringly to be true. "Even if you two are quite possibly more useless in a crisis than a flock of sheep, you will be very, very happy to know I still have an eensy, teensy bit of faith left for this..."

They looked up at him with wide eyes. "You do?"

TO BE CONTINUED


	4. The Lion's Craving

**The Movement of Unsubtle Desires**   
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts   
Author: Kiba   
Rating: R   
Pairing: Leon/Cloud   
Chapter: 4/?   
Warnings: Angst, gore, and dark, dark romance... voyeurism, and vaguely described sexual activity.   
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, any of the characters, anything Disney, or much else, except the crazy crap I make them do. :)

Chapter Four: The Lion's Craving

Leon hadn't slept much that night-night. In fact, he hadn't slept at all. He actually was not a nocturnal creature, which was surprise, but the day's events left him musing too much for his own good. Not particularly about Cloud, but this new desire he had set aflame within him---the mentioning of this "Coliseum" seemed quite appealing.

For ages, or so it felt like, there was a rage burning gently in his two blue eyes, waiting for the cracks to spread and let it through. He could not tell if Cloud tore the stitches Leon had attempted to sew, or assisted in making new ones. It roused within him something that was the memories of what he had lost since the Heartless came, and how they destroyed the place he once called Home, and the haunting faces of the people he used to know...all of them seemed like such a distant memory but the things that had happened seemed like yesterday.

As he rubbed his forehead morosely, settled in the darkness, in a corner of the shabby house, out of view from the others, he recalled the contours of Her face, and the way She always smiled to him, the way She delicately plucked him from the ground and gently unfolded his petals, opening him, as if he were a rare flower. She was sweet kind of like the way Aerith was, who, as irony would have it, was a flower girl. Maybe...maybe that was why he let her come with him. She reminded him so much of Her, and no matter how hard he tried Her angelic face was the image that was always most vivid to him.

The only way to burn away the memories was to_ fight_. It was an urge settled within him unable to be fulfilled since he had came to Traverse. He swore every time he fought a battle, he lost a memory. Maybe if he fought enough he could forget completely, and truly become the new person he had pathetically tried to patch together within the first few days after his world was destroyed. Yuffie, though a warrior in her own right, could not provide the sort of counsel in battle he yearned for. Aerith was a peaceful girl and would have never hurt even a fly.

But Cloud---coming here, even with his awkward footwork, did bring his news of this thing called the "Coliseum", and it seemed quite promising to him.

In the dead hours he slipped to the waterway and trained.

--

Cloud stood in that shower for an hour or so, he could have bet. His skin was prune-like by the time he stepped out, and in silence he slipped into the only pair of pants he had that were dry at the moment. After that he settled onto his bed in silence and quickly enough fell into sleep, as battling with Leon proved to be a strenuous work-out, and he was drained.

His sleep was to be unpleasant, however. Within the dream, there was darkness, not unlike the eternal night of Traverse Town, within the sky. No stars shone, however, for when he turned his head down from his perch in the heavens, the city he saw below, his city, something told him, was ignited in violent flames.

The closer he came to the city the hotter his skin felt. The closer he came, the louder the screams, and the better he could hear the fires crackling and the buildings falling pathetically to the burnt ground. Within the flames, he saw a lone figure, which he hesitantly approached.

It whipped around quickly, the lengthy silver hair upon its back swaying but never once touching the flames, the brilliant and cat-slit sea-green gaze on its face---he saw it was a man, now---illuminated with the fires around them. A grin stretched across his features, and quickly, he raised his hands---and suddenly, securely in them, he grasped a lengthy samurai's sword. Without warning, the metal sliced downward, and there was blackness all around Cloud.

This was a usual occurrence in his dreams. They were usually more drawn out, more painful, slower than this, but it was what happened, just about every single night. Had he been conscious, he would have been surprised to find that it didn't end here...

When he opened his eyes, but still dreaming, he was laying down in a field of high and green grass, in the night, staring up at the sky. The stars shimmered clearly there, and it seemed rather peaceful. He felt the gentle and cool breezes stroking across his skin and blowing the dead dandelions all around, as if soothing away the heat from the fires.

In front of his gaze flashed a small firefly. He blinked, and reached up an arm slowly, to bat at it. He felt a boyish smile come to his face, and he watched as the tiny insect continued to blink on and off.

"My Light," he questioned in a gentle whisper, "is this what you're trying to tell me? That you know where it is?"

He sat up in the field. The firefly seemed to keep blinking in front of his line of vision, wherever he turned. Though suddenly it whisked away, and he looked up, to follow it. It seemed to be heading somewhere, and so he quickly stood. It moved faster.

He broke into a run. Swiftly, he scaled the grassy field, bright cerulean eyes open, and his mouth laughing loudly. He was going to find his Light, finally, after all this time---something he had been looking for ever since his Home had been destroyed; maybe even before that.

The little bug lead him up a large hill, and his silhouette passed against the moon, though he had no time to pay attention to its glorious beauty, shining down on his skin. His light, of course, was far more important.

As he headed down the hill, he felt his foot hit something, and he went flying, much like he had done when he had fought with Leon in the waterway. He went rolling awkwardly down the hill, and landed at its bottom, eyes shut tightly, his body shaking.

Before he could regain his composure he felt something heavy pressing down on his head. There was a soft rumbling noise, something like a growl. He immediately began to panic. The large weight shoved at him, rolling him over onto his back, and he winced slightly.

When he finally opened his eyes, he came face to face with an extremely large _lion_; its great mane gentle ruffling in the wind, and its features dark against the moon behind him. It was very hard to distinguish anything in particular about him, except for---except for its two gleaming, ferocious blue eyes.

The lion's growls progressed into vicious snarls, his jaws opening, and snapping shut loudly. The firefly Cloud had been following flickered in the big cat's face suddenly, its path tracing vertically across it, illuminating for a few seconds the scar on his brow, to which Cloud gawked at.

When the firefly was gone, the lion rumbled softly within his throat, lowering his head only a few seconds, before leaping forward, crushing Cloud's body with the massive weight of his own. He executed a blood curdling scream at the sudden shock of pain and the sound of bones cracking loudly, and felt something akin to razor blades tearing at his flesh, which were surely the lion's black claws.

The wild animal delved its head forward once more, letting its large jaws latch onto Cloud's stomach, pierce the flesh, and entirely rip whatever caught on its fangs away. Somehow, he was still alive, and the most disturbing sight he had ever seen in his life had to be seeing this lion lift its head proudly in the moonlight, his own intestines hanging from its maw.

He woke up with a loud gasp and wide eyes, his body jolting up in bed. His first reaction was to clutch his stomach, and felt an undeniable relief upon feeling it was indeed still intact, and there was no lion in sight. He sighed loudly and shakily, continuing to clutch his stomach for a few seconds, his eyes wide but staring at nothing.

His head jolted up at the sound of a roar, and he slipped from his bed immediately. It sounded again as he grasped his Buster Sword, and immediately slipped outside, into the alley.

He must have been suicidal.

--

There were no words exchanged, when Cloud came walking through the water, onto the pebbled shore. Leon's back was to him, but at the sound of the footsteps echoing in the cavern, he slowly lowered his weapon, and glanced out of the corner of his eyes, over his shoulder at Cloud.

He saw the brilliant blue and shivered, as he thought of the lion. Stopping in place, he clenched his hand tightly around the hilt of his sword.

Without warning Leon whipped around and came forward. Cloud received the blow with the broad side of the Buster and roughly shoved Leon back. There was silence and stillness amongst them after Leon regained his footing quickly enough.

They fought.

It continued.

It quickly became regular routine, in the dead of every single night-night from then on. Leon would come to the waterway and Cloud would be summoned by the lion's roars from his sleep. Promptly, he would waltz willingly into his own death, into the vision of the firefly that leads him to the lion, which never ceased to relieve him of his intestines, night after night, and they moved in this addicting violence together, night after night.

There were never any words exchanged in these private meetings, just the raw emotion of movement and panting and dueling. There were never truly any winners, just a time when the both of them grew too frightened of the building rage in either of their souls. Aerith and Yuffie did not know Leon slipped out as he did, and did not even know Cloud existed. Yuffie had long forgotten the night with the almost-spilled drink.

And Cloud never grew tired of the morbid feeling he felt when he locked eyes with Leon, whom he began to think of adoringly as his Beautiful-Eyed Lion, who came to him nightly in dreams that eventually eclipsed the silver haired ones all together. He was a new source of pain, a drug to take away his fears and give him new ones, which he so quickly latched onto, like a desperate crack baby.

These dreams and fights continued for a very, very long time---neither Cloud nor Leon was quite sure how long it had been, maybe a week, maybe a month, and maybe a year. It did not matter, it just needed to happen.

And slowly, so very slowly, the god of the Underworld was biding his time, collecting little bits and pieces of the two warriors, locking it away safely with his fox smile, waiting for the time in which to strike. It had never really been clear as to why he followed Cloud like this so, but he thought to himself as a god who had been wronged, why not take revenge, brutal and delicious revenge, upon those who have been the cause of it? He could not take down Zeus but the image of seeing Cloud suffer a horrible end for backing from his deal was very appealing. The gods of Greece were all without mercy in this manner, so these actions were to be expected.

Cloud had forgotten the deal.

And Leon felt he was finally ready.

"I'm going to the Coliseum," Leon said to him one day. It was the first time Cloud had heard his voice in a very, very long time and it startled him before he could move.

He stared blankly across at the other a moment, and then a pang of fear tugged at his heart, and he furrowed his brows. "Why do you want to go there? You can fight here, with me."

The lion was silent and lowered his head in contemplation, then breathed an almost annoyed sigh. "I need more than this."

The blond felt offended. His bottom lip protruded and he pouted as a child would, letting his Buster Sword drop carelessly to the ground, which had since gained countless nicks and dents, and approached his Lion. He glared directly into those frightening blue eyes, and balled his fists. "I don't want you to go." But he saw his Lion's eyes and seemed to relent his complaining, his expression falling into something of simply blank, maybe confused, a little bit hurt.

Leon stared into the other's eyes, and for the first time he noticed how Cloud visibly wavered under his gaze. He saw in him a fear that that had been instilled inside him the first time they had met, and for the first time since his world had ended, he felt a slight tug on his heart strings for the expression on Cloud's boyish face.

"I need you to do something for me," he said quietly as he looked to the side, unable to stand the defiled innocent in the other's face.

Cloud knew he was a lion and lions were wild and so there was going to be no stopping him from doing what he wanted. In his wildness, he knew, also forever stirred an urge to fight and by now they knew one another's bodies too well to feel a challenge when in battle anymore. He understood but did not want to. He sighed. "I will do anything for you."

"There are three people in my house," Leon began. "I need you to watch one of them. There is me, and you have already seen Yuffie; she's the stupid and spunky ninja that always hangs around me. But I need you to watch the other girl in my house; her name is Aerith and she is a peaceful flower girl, so if I am gone no one will be able to watch her."

"Aerith..." He stammered a bit. Cloud knew the name. In fact, he knew her. She was a girl he used to know back in his old world, before everything had been destroyed. She had been so very important to him then and he had spent all this time telling himself everyone he had known was dead. It was hard for him to think of her as alive now and stared somewhat blankly ahead, disturbingly indifferent. "I used to know her."

Leon raised a brow, and tilted his head. "Good, then you know what she is like, how delicate you must be with her."

"I think she used to love me," Cloud said, with his blank stare. Why he had stated that out loud, he hadn't known, but now that Leon had put the thought in his head and he was recollecting things of the past as seconds passed.

The other's eyes narrowed slightly. "Did you...do you love her?"

"Maybe."

His eyes narrowed further. For the first time, he felt a slightly distaste for the sweet girl who wore the pink dress named Aerith.

Cloud had come to know Leon's gaze so well and immediately saw this. That was the trick to figuring out what his Lion was currently feeling, he had learned. It would never be displayed in his words, or the other parts of his face. His soul stood right in back of his eyes. He saw the jealousy in them and moved forward suddenly, and looked up at him. "No, I don't."

"Good," he said quietly.

Cloud stared.

After a long pause, Leon slowly raised one of his gloved hands and grasped firmly at Cloud's chin. He stared into those eyes, saw the flicker of fear, and enjoyed it entirely. The hand squeezed gently, and as he tilted the blond's head up, he tilted down his own, and shut his eyes, pressing his lips against Cloud's for the first time.

Cloud wasn't surprised. He sighed softly against his hot lips, moved closer, and placed both of his hands on either side of the taller's face, stroking it with his fingers slightly, feeling the slight stubble that had begun to grow with a day or two of neglect. They slowly moved back, reaching his hairline, and then running his fingers through the dark brown locks, finding them wonderfully soft.

His free hand lifted, placing it gently on one of Cloud's hips. As their kiss seemed to deepen, the hand slid over to the side, slipping upward and under the black fabric covering his stomach, slowly stroking there. At those touches, he whimpered and shivered softly.

Leon took this as a sign to do more. Suddenly, the fingers settled against the flat plane of his stomach dug their nails into the skin, and slowly raked up, then down, hard enough to leave reddened welts in their wake.

Cloud moaned earthily, his stomach arching into the scratching of his stomach, envisioning the cutting open of it, and the way the lion stood over him with his intestines in his mouth. It was arousing.

"I will come back to you and give you this as you want it," Leon whispered huskily into his ear.

Within the shadows, Hades smiled.

--

Leon hadn't time to fight with Cloud that night. They immediately parted after he told him he was to leave the next morning with Yuffie, and Cloud retired to his hotel room with a heavy heart.

Sleep did not come to him, and the night-night showed no mercy. There were no dreams of his Lion to be had. But the way he kissed him and the scratching of his stomach left him aching with a new need; similar to the craving he possessed to fight Leon.

Slowly, Cloud ran his hands along the welts left by his Lionunto his stomach, cerulean eyes focused intently upon them. After a long while of lying on his back on his bed and affectionately stroking the wounds, his hands wandered lower, and he allowed himself the closest sort of release he could without Leon there.

TO BE CONTINUED


End file.
